KAOS
is an occult magazine, first published in London in the 1980s. It
was the underground zine that introduced the writings of Hakim Bey
to Europe, and published new work by Lionel Snell, Stephen Sennitt,
Mouse (ex Psychic TV), and others. KAOS influenced the comic-book
writer Alan Moore, who now writes in issue 14, a 200 page large
format book that appears after a 13 year absence.

In
1988, in London, Joel Biroco performed a magical operation with
Babalon that has subsequently become known as the 'KAOS-BABALON
Working'. The object of the operation was to initiate the '156 current',
essentially the Cult of 'Chaos conjoined with Babalon', to advance
and supersede the now defunct 93 current of Thelema and transform
the Chaos current. Initial details were published in the last KAOS
in 1989, just before Biroco disappeared from the occult scene altogether.

KAOS 14 contains further
information about this Working and explores
the significance of the KAOS-BABALON 156 current, the impetus of
which arose out the skrying of the Enochian Æthyrs by Aleister
Crowley and Victor Neuburg in Algeria in 1909, and prior to that
from the receipt of the Angelic language by Dr John Dee and Edward
Kelly in Cracow, Poland, in 1584. In the aftermath of the KAOS-BABALON
Working in 1989 it seemed that this magick, despite its intensity,
had failed to achieve its objective, but in 2001 it became apparent
that all along it had been a dormant seed awaiting the right conditions
for its growth. There has been a great need to make available all
that is known about the 156 current to provide a background for
those seeking initiation into its mysteries.

In
addition to this main theme, KAOS continues the documentation of
recent underground occult history that proved immensely popular
in the 80s, which gained the magazine a reputation for being remarkably
well-informed about the magick and personalities of contemporary
occultism. KAOS 14 also analyses in depth Kenneth Grant's contribution
to the occult and discusses the ultimate aim of the Ordo Templi
Orientis.

Other
topics range from the seven-headed dragon and the demon Choronzon
to Austin Osman Spare, Jack Parsons' relationship with Babalon,
and 'The Black Room, the Chamber of Death, and the Red Room'. The
Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels, long rumoured
to be an actual occult order set up by the magus Alan Moore, comes
out of silence in this issue.

Published
as a signed limited edition of 156 copies in April 2002, KAOS 14
is now available as a free PDF ebook.
Plus a 69 page supplement, 'The Black Lodge of Santa Cruz', a personal
memoir by an Enochian magician who was at the heart of a chaotic
magical working in the States in the early 90s that also appears
to have been a party to the birth of the 156 current.

About
Joel Biroco

After
studying chemistry at University in London, Biroco secluded himself
away to write. KAOS began in 1985 when Joel decided to publish his
'attic writings', typified by 'The Exorcist of Revolution' (1986)
and other juvenilia, interspersed with comment on the then burgeoning
'Chaos current' and 'Chaos magick'. But in 1989 after the KAOS-BABALON
Working, a slightly infernal magical operation with a female erotic
artiste from the Church of Satan in Amsterdam, Biroco put together
what was to be his last KAOS for 13 years and promptly disappeared
from the occult scene.

In
the 90s he still continued to bash out writings on an old typewriter
under various pseudonyms (including Coleman Healy) and to paint
pictures. Some of these writings were published in limited editions
at his own Herculaneum Press. He also attained
recognition for his major scholarly work on the Chinese
Yijing oracle.
When some of his more political writings were published in Russian
and Romanian translation, he enjoyed notoriety in the anarchist
poetry scene of the Black Sea area. KAOS was a thing of the past.

Unexpectedly,
in early 2001 Babalon revisited Biroco and told him it was time
to go back on the black pilgrimage. At first Biroco rejected the
challenge, wishing only for the comforts of his 'miaunici' in Bucharest.
But on a return to London his presence was demanded at an important
meeting of The Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels,
at which the Exquisite Basilisk himself would be present, otherwise
known as the supreme magus Alan Moore. After an evening of excellently
skinned 'Camberwell carrots', Moore managed to persuade Biroco to
bring back KAOS, and promised him an article or two, but little
did Biroco realise that KAOS would swell to 200 pages and take over
a year to complete.

Reading this latest issue of KAOS reminded me of the days when it
used to come through the letterbox in a brown envelope, then I would
put it to one side, go away, make a cup of tea and resist the excitement
of ripping the envelope open and reading it straight away. I wanted
to sit down and savour it, take every word in. You learnt something
from KAOS man! I had to be careful because my friends would come round,
read a bit, and then they would borrow it before I'd read it all.
Now you're making it available as a PDF you'll get a guy with a tatty
PC in a backstreet of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso ('The Country of Incorruptible
Men'), downloading it and spreading the 156 current over the whole
Sahara.